Friday, 13 May 2011

Kitchen Nightmares - Clubway 41 / Jacksons - CLOSED

Episode Recap

Chef Gordon Ramsay visits Clubway 41, the failing Blackpool Restaurant of the Year owned by Dave Jackson. A restaurant above a greasy spoon Cafe, full of strange menu concoctions dreamt up by Chef Dave's partner Dawn Brindley, including a salmon and strawberry salad that Gordon tried and did not like at all. Next he moves onto Pork with Brie and Nectarine sauce, the pork was battered and tough, the parsnip crisps were bendy and the sauce was F***ing disgusting. Gordon goes out into Blackpool and discovers that no one has heard of the restaurant or knows where it is. Gordon wants to watch a busy service so he fills the restaurant up with dancers looking for a quick lunch. He moves Nigel from the cafe downstairs up to help Dave as he has shown he can cook under pressure and Dave flits about with the orders and with no communication it soon falls apart. Gordon does a taste test with Dave serving him some of his dreadful concoctions and he says they are all gross and don't work.

They decide to change the dreadful name of the restaurant to Jacksons, which is Dave's surname, Dawn agrees as long as he agrees to marry her. They decide to move the dinner service downstairs where the dining room is visible from outside and create a new quick and easy menu. Gordon discovers that Dave has barely stepped foot in the kitchen since training in the 70s and does not even know how to do the basics such as cooking mussels. They argue for a bit shouting various obscenities at each other. They give the restaurant a makeover, just a coat of paint and some new tablecloths. On the launch night, all the food is pre-prepared, all they need to do is boil the mains in the bag and serve. The relaunch is shaky in places after starting off good, Gordon suggests serving more wine to those waiting. They run out of steak and customers are being told it is no longer available an hour after they have ordered it. They pull it off with a good standard of service and the food gets good reviews from the customers.

What Happened Next?

Gordon revisits and things had gotten worse, Nigel is gone with no reason given and a bus terminal had cropped up out the front and they appeared to have given up closing the restaurant for the winter months. Gordon sends Dawn out to drum up business with a Kids Eat Free promotion, it works and the restaurant is packed once again. However in 2006, a few weeks after the revisit the restaurant was closed. In 2007, the Market Street Diner was taken over by new owners but appears to have since closed. Dawn and Dave have since split up, whether they married is unknown.

I highly doubt you can call or a Ramsay curse...he comes in hoping to turn around something that most of the times, it at the end if its rope. Passed the point of saviour but somehow he makes it happen...with anything there is going to be some that don't make it...that is called life

Shame, over 10 years later I came here hoping to find out whatever happened to Dave and Dawn ... and all I find is their wiseacre "kids" posting here. Sad state when no one cares about any of the hardworking people on any of these shows, unless they are "hot" or have a "nice rack." And even then, the comments show the attitudes accordingly. :(